When searching white rum reviews I came across highly rated El Dorado White. When I got to the store, they had Demerara Diamond Reserve White next to El Dorado gold, but no El Dorado white. According to the label it is produced in Guyana by Demerara distillery but I cannot find any other references to the Diamond Reserve brand and Ministry of Rum database does not list this rum with any of the Demerara offerings. Since it came from Demerara, I bought 2 bottles but have not tasted yet. Can you provide any tasting notes or product info regarding Diamond Reserve? El Dorado 15yr is one of my favorites!

I did some scrummaging around myself in dingy old liquor stores in unremarkable parts of South Miami the other day and came upon a whole case of this stuff!

NOTE: these bottles have the Web address www.demrum.com on the back label; the World Wide Web was not publicly available until 1991, which places these bottles mid-to-late 1990s.

What I like about these early labels is that they have that old-world Demerara feel about them.

Diamond Reserve white rum is just one part of the Demerara Distiller Limited (DDL) lineup. The three Diamond Reserve expressions - white, gold, and dark, align closely with the existing El Dorado white, gold, and dark rums, also made by DDL. I wouldn’t be surprised if El Dorado takes the same path as Appleton, splitting their unified house brand into separate value and premium lines, i.e., Diamond Reserve for value rums and El Dorado for a more premium product.

Either way, the Diamond rums are modern simple column still light rums. They work best as mixers when a delicate rum flavor is desired. A product of Plantation Diamond, Guyana, the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) have been in business since the 1700's, so they are well made, but they were not aged and could have been produced last month.

Still, it is not every day you see a Demerara rum with 'Product of Guyana' on the label sitting on your local liquor store shelf.